February 2014 Ritual: A Valentine for YOU!

By Diann L. Neu

This Valentine’s Day we send you loving gratitude for your generosity to the WATER community.

February opens our hearts to love ― loving self, loving others, loving Earth, and loving justice.

Love Yourself

“Love opens the doors into everything, as far as I can see, including and perhaps most of all, the door into one’s own secret, and often terrible and frightening, real self.”

― May Sarton, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Love Others

“I venture to say that for women friends love is an orientation toward the world as if my friend and I were more united than separated, more at one among the many than separate and alone.”

― Mary E. Hunt, Fierce Tenderness (1991)

Love Earth   

“Love, I find, is like singing.”

― Zora Neale Hurston, I Love Myself when I Am Laughing… and Then Again when I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader (1942)

Love Justice

“Giving kids clothes and food is one thing but it’s much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important, and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people.”

― Dolores Huerta, A Dolores Huerta Reader (2008)

Radiate Love

May love be within you.
May love be around you.
May love be beside you.
May love fill your days and your nights.
May you walk lovingly with Earth’s creatures.
May love bring justice and peace to all.
Amen.  Blessed Be.  Let It Be So.

Act with Love

• Kiss your own hand to symbolize that you like yourself. Then blow a kiss to send love to the children of the world.

• Do something special for yourself. Enjoy!

• Cook dinner for a friend or several. Relax!

• Hug a child. Pet your pet.

• Take a person who is older than you for a walk. Do a puzzle.

• Volunteer at a food pantry or soup kitchen. Make a difference.

• Sign a petition. Make your voice heard.

• Make an impact in an instant. Donate to a charity.